Miliband should put in his 50 pence worth

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Unlike what he said about welfare, Ed does believe in the top rate of tax. It would help him to say it loud and clear

Back in 1997, I suddenly started getting a lot of abuse about the top rate of income tax. You may remember that was the time when Tony Blair convinced Gordon Brown that Labour’s claim to be “new” rested in large measure on its pledge not to increase the top rate. Still, that wasn’t really my fight. The reason I started getting it in the neck was that Phil Collins threatened to leave the country if Labour won and put taxes up.

The daily queries about why I was still here made me realise that the top rate of tax had